GOP Launches Commitment to Health Reform

House Republican Members of Congress have been working since early last year on their “Commitment to America” recommendations to strengthen the economy, keep us safe, advance freedom, and make government accountable.

The proposals were released this morning at an event in Monongahela, PA, (“real America”) with Leader Kevin McCarthy and other House leaders and Members presenting and taking questions.

This is an important effort to show the America people that they can do more than be against whatever new tax-spend-regulate schemes the Pelosi leadership offers.

Last year, Leader McCarthy appointed Task Forces to tackle specific issues that he’s committed to advancing if Republicans take control of the House of Representatives in the fall elections. First up:  Repealing the IRS expansion to hire 87,000 new armed agents.

Developing the agenda was McCarthy’s idea for a bottom-up process to engage Members in developing the agenda.  Each task force has up to 18 members, drawn from various committees to overcome the obstacles involving committee jurisdiction that often impede progress. Too many bills have failed in the past because leaders didn’t even have buy in from their own team.

President Biden taunted Republicans in January, asking repeatedly “What are Republicans for?”  Republicans have been gathering for countless meetings on Capitol Hill to answer Biden’s question. Members are definitely invested in the ideas they have developed in this process.

The Healthy Future task force, jointly chaired by Reps. Brett Guthrie of Kentucky and Vern Buchanan of Florida, has for example a number of important health policy recommendations to put doctors and patients rather than government bureaucrats in charge of health care decisions.

The Commitment document focuses on targeted health reforms—such as:

• enabling states to approve a wider variety of health plans to facilitate more competition and affordability
• encouraging more portable health coverage
• giving small business more options for competitively priced insurance for their employees
• making Health Savings Accounts accessible to more people to personalize their health care and save for future needs
• removing barriers for employers to participate in direct contracting, high performance networks, and centers of excellence
• providing greater access to new technologies
• speeding approval of new treatments
• empowering patients with more choices of plans and doctors, ownership of their health records, and easier ways to get quality care, including telehealth.

This is not a major overhaul of the American health sector nor a plan to redesign one-sixth of the American economy. Americans have no appetite for that. 

Instead, it builds on what is working, realigns incentives to facilitate choice, competition, and affordability, and works to strengthen the availability of quality care.

The conservatives’ patient-centered approach to health reform builds on market solutions.  The Left uses the heavy hand of government to control virtually every aspect of care and coverage. 

We’ll see in November which side wins.

Grace-Marie Turner heads the Galen Institute which has been fighting for more than 25 years for health freedom.  gracemarie@galen.org